In a luminous convergence of legacy and grassroots innovation, the JRD Tata Awards 2025 unfolded today at the India Habitat Centre, celebrating the quiet revolution of India’s hinterland entrepreneurs—its Grampreneurs.
Instituted in 1995 in the memory of industrial titan JRD Tata, the awards have over the past three decades become a sacred site of India’s inclusive capitalism, where job creators from the country’s most modest geographies are saluted not with applause alone, but with mentorship, opportunity, and national recognition.
Presided over by Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, the ceremony was a powerful meditation on the spirit of Indian entrepreneurship—one that is not confined to glass towers and venture capital, but rooted in the farms, alleyways, and workshops of small-town India.
The event was organized by the Bharatiya Yuva Shakti Trust (BYST), a pioneering institution founded to empower economically disadvantaged youth by transforming them from job-seekers to job-creators, through the alchemy of mentoring and microfinance.
From Dreams to Enterprises: The BYST Vision
BYST is no ordinary NGO. For 30 years, it has quietly nurtured a revolution in economic democracy. Conceived with the vision of enabling India’s underserved youth to unlock their entrepreneurial potential, BYST has supported over 2 lakh youth, facilitated ₹820 crore in loans, and catalyzed the creation of more than 5 lakh jobs. These are not mere statistics—they are lifelines, each representing a family lifted, a village changed, a destiny rewritten.
At the heart of BYST’s success is its belief in the power of mentorship. As Lakshmi V. Venkatesan, Founding and Managing Trustee of BYST, observed in her impassioned speech:
“No entrepreneur reaches greatness alone. Every great idea needs a guiding hand. That is why at BYST, mentoring is not an add-on—it is the beating heart of our mission. Every awardee you see today has been matched with a mentor who walked the difficult road alongside them.”
Venkatesan paid tribute to the organisation’s foundational inspiration, recalling how even in his 80s, JRD Tata embraced the concept of mentoring microentrepreneurs with youthful fervour:
“He did not believe microentrepreneurs were small in any way. Whether from rural roads or urban chawls, JRD Tata believed they deserved full dignity, full attention, and full support. He listened to every story, every challenge—as if each life was worthy of a national policy.”
Celebrating India’s Emerging Titans
This year’s awards were a showcase of the extraordinary in the ordinary—individuals who, despite starting with little, dared to build big.
Entrepreneur of the Year, Sampath G, was honored for his trio of businesses—Simi Designs (an engineering design firm), a manpower agency, and a security solutions company—all rooted in local industry needs and powered by a relentless vision of service and scale.
Runner-up Mayur Hiwarkar has brought solar energy to villages and urban rooftops alike through Urja Saur Electronics. From torchlights to full-scale solar systems, his enterprise is a model of sustainable innovation.
Woman Entrepreneur of the Year, E. Panchamirtham, was recognized for leading Indo Tools & Dies, a precision manufacturing company that now serves international clients. Her journey is emblematic of the silent industrialization of rural India.
And in a fitting tribute to longevity and excellence, the Lifetime Achievement Award was conferred upon Ravi J., founder of Reliance Diamond Tools, whose high-precision diamond tools are today used across continents.
Importantly, these awards do not valorize lone heroes. Each recipient was honoured alongside their mentor, underscoring BYST’s core conviction that behind every successful entrepreneur stands a quiet teacher, guide, or companion.
Minister Scindia: “Entrepreneurship is the Soul of Development”
Delivering the keynote address, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Minister of Communications and Minister for Development of the North Eastern Region, infused the ceremony with both gravitas and grace.
“The energy and enterprise of BYST entrepreneurs who received the JRD Awards today are a testament to the power of inclusive development,” he said. “Their journeys remind us that when given the right support—as BYST has done through mentoring—rural and urban youth can become the true drivers of India’s growth story.”
Scindia also paid tribute to Lakshmi V. Venkatesan’s unwavering dedication, calling her “a veritable Lakshmiji” and a steward of the flame lit by JRD Tata.
“For over 30 years, she has carried that fire forward. Not with noise, but with relentless action. Not with slogans, but with results.”
Evoking memories of his father’s close relationship with Venkatesan’s father, the former President of India Shri. R. Venkataraman, Scindia noted:
“This is not just an award ceremony—it is a confluence of values passed down through generations. It is where idealism meets implementation.”
The Jury of Luminaries
The jury for the 2025 edition was chaired by Dr. V. Anantha Nageswaran, Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India, and included a constellation of India’s leading economists, entrepreneurs, academics, and journalists—among them Dr. Ashok Khosla, Anand Deshpande, Shereen Bhan, and Shobhaa De.
Selecting winners was no easy task, as Venkatesan emphasized:
“Each nominee was deserving. Whether crafting tools or software, snacks or solar panels, they all exemplify what India can achieve when its grassroots are watered with opportunity.”
From Local Models to Global Blueprints
While BYST’s model is quintessentially Indian—steeped in village realities and community values—it has also become a global export. Through Youth Business International (YBI), BYST’s mentoring-based microenterprise model now spans 70 countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
“Our Grampreneurs have become beacons not just for India, but for the world,” Venkatesan said. “Delegations from as far as Mongolia and Russia come to learn from our entrepreneurs.”
In a particularly evocative moment, she recalled how one award-winning woman entrepreneur had to approach 30 banks before finally securing support from BYST.
“This is the challenge. Women today face 85% denial rates for loans. Not because they lack vision, but because the system lacks trust,” she said. “And that is why we need to scale mentoring from 20,000 to 2 lakh mentors. Because every mentor creates five businesses, and every business creates 10 direct and 14 indirect jobs.”
The math is clear. The mission is urgent. The future is within reach.
A Model for an Atmanirbhar Bharat
In the final analysis, the JRD Tata Awards 2025 were not just a celebration of individual brilliance. They were a reaffirmation of an alternative model of development—one that prioritizes dignity over charity, jobs over handouts, and trust over red tape.
As Scindia put it: “This is an era where India has risen. And in that rise, our Grampreneurs® are not passengers—they are pilots.”
Indeed, in the faces of the awardees—many from regions long overlooked by policy and investment—one could glimpse the audacity of hope and the architecture of a new economic imagination. The JRD Tata Awards are not just awards. They are signals from the future, calling us to build an India where no dream is too small, and no origin too humble.
And as Lakshmi V. Venkatesan reminded us with poetic clarity: “Success stories do not bloom in a vacuum. They blossom in ecosystems of mentoring, markets, and moral commitment. That is the BYST way. That is the Tata legacy. And that is the promise of India.”
